Remnant: Life with Monster Girls
by Demon of Zero
Summary: It had been three years since Extra-Species had been formally revealed to the world and began interacting with human civilization. As humans adapted to their arrival, laws and programs were put in place to help them settle into society. One example would be the Cultural Exchange Program... which Jaune Arc is surprised to learn he was a part of. When did he sign up for this again?


So this idea hit me and I kind of felt like running with it. This is the result of me running with it, with various ideas and collaboration among some folks I talk to. It's got some plans and ideas for the future, and I know who's going to be what for the most part, and the general "plot" of things is really just going to be sort of an episodic and funny thing just per the source material.

Anyhow. Dislaimer; I don't own RWBY or Monster Musume. Have fun.

* * *

Three years ago, the world as a whole was presented with a shocking concept; monsters, mythical beasts, the things of fairy tales, were all real.

And they had finally decided to reveal themselves as a whole, all at once. It had thrown the world for a loop, frantically adapting to suit the sudden introduction of creatures previously unknown. Laws were hastily put in place and then just as quickly scrapped or revised, people tried to determine just how they could get along best with these creatures, and the creatures themselves began worming their way into civilization however they felt like.

For Blake Belladonna, though, this was little more than a side note. Sure, cat girls and fairies and all of that were real live creatures, how exciting!

Not quite so, in her opinion. She had other things to concern herself with.

As the girl strolled down the streets of Vale, she couldn't help but sigh. She did that a lot these days, it seemed.

A quick glance around her, amber eyes scanning for cars as she came to the crosswalk, and the dark haired teen continued on without delay; she was returning from her shift up at Tukson's after a slow day.

Truthfully, Blake really wished she could have stayed longer. The alternative meant going back to her... "home", she supposed it would be called, but the place wasn't really any kind of home to her.

It wasn't her home at all. It was just the place she was forced to share with _him_.

Modern day arranged marriages weren't all that common. But when your family has the kind of political connections and interests that needed to be solidified by something, there were few ways more solid than forcing your children into a loveless relationship.

'Yes, I'm bitter.' She thought to herself, rounding the corner to the neighborhood where her _home_ was. 'Who wouldn't be? Even _he_ isn't happy.'

She ignored the small part of her that tried explaining how _she_ was the one who made it harder for him to be happy. Blake didn't want to acknowledge that, even if it was true.

Just because he was trying to make this work didn't mean it would, and just because he wanted to try and make it work didn't mean she was on board for that idea. He wasn't _better_ than her for accepting it. No, if anything he was worse. He just gave up and decided to play along, decided to give away the rest of his life to this arrangement.

She wasn't willing to do that.

Unfortunately, though, her circumstances were rather bleak... another sigh slipped from her, and she adjusted the strap on her bag as it dug into her shoulder due to the weight of the books within. Her escape from reality for the nights to come.

She could get lost in the worlds contained within these pages rather than _feel_ lost in the world she'd been stuck with. A pleasant distraction, but her situation was still just as poor as it would ever be.

Unless she were to just run off on her own, live her life without the aid of her family, leave it all behind... as if. She hated to admit it, but Blake wasn't certain she could survive like that. It was a terrifying thought, to be bereft of all the resources she'd grown used to having at her disposal.

Finally coming to a stop just a few steps away from the gate, Blake did stop and really _think_ about it. She could withdraw a good amount of lien to try and set herself up somewhere, run away where her family's influence didn't reach; Atlas, for instance, was well outside their sphere, and Vacuo was similar in that vein as well. It wouldn't even be hard to get to Vacuo, and from there she could probably find a way to sail to Atlas, just to make sure...

Could she get herself off the ground and live a normal life? Maybe. It was possible...

Shaking her head, the dark haired girl gave a humorless laugh. "Listen to me, actually considering that... how pathetic." Blake wasn't even sure if she meant the fact that she was thinking about it, or the fact that she didn't have the guts to go through with it... maybe both. This whole situation, even, was pathetic.

That said, she took the final few steps to the front gate and slipped in, looking the house over once; anything to distract her from going inside and having to deal with _him_ again.

It wasn't a small home. Their families were both filled with influential individuals, and the combined wealth of those two families was not insignificant. They couldn't go off and purchase an island of their own, but a large three story home in Vale city was easily within their grasp.

The house had been a gift from _his_ parents. They'd been forced to live together, but the house was large enough that they could keep as much distance as they wanted from each other... again, pathetic. Their parents knew just how little they wanted this, and had accommodated for that, but hadn't been willing to call the whole thing off.

That said, though, the house was admittedly nice. Three stories was more than they would need, certainly, unless both of their families came to visit at the same time.

... or just his, actually, she thought with a grimace as she recalled just how many people made up that particular family.

Not to mention how little she got along with them. In a lot of ways, they were like _him_.

The yard was proportionate to the house, the back at least. The front was less so, just enough to have a good image. Green grass, well trimmed hedges surrounding the inside of the fence and visible through the bars, and a single bird bath off to the right. The back was larger, with taller hedges for additional privacy and trees planted here and there.

Blake would admit that reading in the back yard during the warmer months was pleasant. It wasn't worth the rest of the situation, but that was one plus.

All said and done, their _home_ was nice. It was close to the city proper, but not too close. It was in a good neighborhood, but the people mostly kept to themselves. It was well furnished, it was nice to look at, and if she pretended hard enough she could almost imagine that she didn't share it with her fiance.

Steeling herself as she finally made it to the door, Blake decided that she would just open the door, give him a nod or a wave or something in response to him welcoming her back, and then just beeline for her room so she could hide away.

Decision made and resolve firmly in place, Blake Belladonna opened the door and strode in calmly, as though she hadn't just been taking every excuse possible to avoid doing that up until now.

Oddly enough, there was no immediate greeting from the man she'd been forced to share the house with. That was unusual, because he almost always got home well before her, and in his misguided attempt to make her feel better about this whole thing he'd taken it upon himself to try and always welcome her in.

At first he'd done so with a fair amount of enthusiasm, but her own demeanor quickly brought him to the realization that it wasn't going to work. He made a token effort nowadays, but it was consistent.

Well, whatever. She was going to the kitchen to grab a drink before returning to her room. "I do kind of wonder where he is, though..." Blake muttered to herself, slipping her shoes off and making her way through the house. After a second, she did hear some talking.

Blake huffed. So he was home, then, probably on the phone, or maybe the neighbors had come over to visit again... and he did sound like he was in the kitchen. 'Ugh...' She groaned mentally, debating whether or not it was worth it to get her drink after all... if that lunatic of a satyr was over again, it really may not be so simple to just walk in and out, even with her keeper making his own token effort to restrain the ginger girl's enthusiasm.

But it was sort of warm out today, and she had more books than normal as well. Even with her clothes chosen to keep her cool lately, the v-neck shirt and light cloth pants, she was kind of thirsty.

"... I'll just tune it all out, then..." The dark haired girl grumbled, attempting to do just that by thinking on other things. The conversation between Jaune and whoever he was speaking to was drowned out to her ears, and the girl merely continued on towards the kitchen.

As she walked in, she noticed the blonde hair of her fiance immediately. She offered a half-hearted wave, attempting to be as unapproachable as possible so he wouldn't try and start a conversation, before opening the refrigerator.

Something seemed off, though. The conversation had ground to a halt as she entered, and replaying things in her head Blake belatedly realized that her arranged partner did not have hair _that_ long.

So as she pulled away from the fridge, a bottle of People Like Grapes flavored water in her hand, Blake turned to regard the _three_ people sitting at the kitchen table.

One of whom was looking rather sheepish, and seated at the opposite end of the table from where she'd originally thought him to be.

"Er, hey there Blake." Jaune Arc chuckled nervously, scratching at his cheek with one hand. "Say, I don't supposed _you_ signed up to be a cultural exchange host?" He asked, nodding pointedly to the suited man and the other girl in the room.

Utterly baffled by this situation, Blake shook her head while restraining herself from staring at the deer-like horns or reptilian scales of the other blonde in their house.

"That _is_ rather peculiar, then. I had been certain your fiance was the one to register in our system if it weren't you, Mr. Arc." The grey haired man muttered, sipping at a mug in his hands calmly. "I suppose it is irrelevant at this stage, however, since the paperwork is already completed." Peering at her with his narrow brown eyes, the man smiled. "Hello, Ms. Belladonna. I am your cultural exchange coordinator. Please, feel free to simply call me Ozpin." Another sip of his coffee, the man utterly unfazed by her clear confusion. "I do hope you will take good care of Ms. Xiao Long here."

"Heya." The other blonde waved a golden-scaled hand, slit-pupiled lavender eyes catching Blake's own gaze. "I'm Yang. Nice to meet you." Behind her, a long, serpentine tail stretched out, flicking back and forth idly, tipped with golden fur that matched the girl's long, wavy hair. Her motion in waving drew attention to her other notable assets, namely those on her chest, as they were disturbed by the motion, and the wide grin gave notice to her sharper than normal teeth.

Blake's own eyes narrowed and she turned something of a glare onto Jaune, who's blue eyes widened at the sudden scrutiny.

Under her silent ire, the teen replied quickly, arms before him wardingly. "Whoa, look, I did _not_ sign up for the program, okay? But they needed a place for her to stay, and there isn't anyone else who fits the criteria for her homestay." Criteria which he actually hadn't been given the gist of, now that he thought on it, so he couldn't actually confirm or deny if that was the truth at all.

But like Ozpin had said, it kind of was irrelevant now that he'd signed the papers.

"So you agreed to take a total stranger into the house without even _asking_ me?" Blake growled, trailing her gaze across the people at the table before releasing a heavy sigh. "Fine. I don't care." With those parting words, she merely turned on her heel and made her way out of the kitchen.

She was not dealing with this tonight. It was Jaune's problem.

* * *

As the dark haired teen left the room, the tense posture of the blonde boy changed as he released a sigh. "Sorry about that. Blake and I are... it's complicated. Anyway, she's basically washed her hands of things, so you're free to stay." Again, he'd already signed the papers because they'd insisted she had nowhere else to go... which upon thinking about it actually didn't seem very likely, but he was a sucker for a girl in need it seemed.

The man, Ozpin, merely chuckled. "This is excellent coffee, Mr. Arc. Much better than I tend to get at the office, despite my complaints. Your hospitality is appreciated." Clad in his black suit and his narrow brown eyes barely hidden behind a small pair of spectacles, the man looked for all the world like some kind of secret agent. The manila folder on his person, with the now complete paperwork, also contributed to that look. "So long as Ms. Belladonna takes no measures to harm or discomfort Ms. Xiao Long, there will be no issue."

Yang snorted from the side, rolling her eyes. "Nothing that girl can say is going to hurt me, and I can pretty well guarantee you she can't _actually_ hurt me either... so we're cool. She's got a stick shoved where the sun don't shine, it looks like, but that doesn't stop this sun from shining."

Jaune shouldn't have laughed, but a little bit of a snort tore from his lips at that one. "H-Hey now, come on, that's not funny." He tried to straighten his face, but the little smile didn't leave. "She's got a lot going on. Sorry again for her, I'm sure she'll warm up to you really quickly." Or so he hoped. Maybe if it was someone she _wasn't_ marrying against her will, Blake would actually be personable.

If that wasn't the case, though, things may be a little awkward going forward.

The blonde girl was now looking at him with a wide smile. "I already like this guy; he has a sense of humor." Her little sister never laughed at any of her awesome jokes, and no one else really did either. The plebeians.

"That's excellent to hear." Ozpin replied. "I'm certain Mr. Arc and Ms. Belladonna will prove to be an excellent host family for you, but if you do have any concerns then please direct them to me. I will be checking in with you on a fairly frequent basis, but my information is included in the folder you were provided in case you need to get in touch." He nodded towards a second manila folder, which included Yang's copies of the documentation for her homestay. Reaching into his breast pocket, the grey haired man pulled out a small card. "And for you, Mr. Arc. Ms. Xiao Long's copy has the information as well, but since she rather needs to keep hold of those you may reference this card if you need to speak with me." He slid it across the table with a flick of his finger, the other hand preoccupied with the coffee cup he'd just put to his lips.

Jaune looked the card over, marveling at how the man had managed to get it to slide to a stop just inches away from the end of the table, before pocketing it himself. "Thank you very much, Mr. Ozpin."

The man chuckled, finishing off the coffee. "Ozpin will be fine." Placing the mug down once more, he spoke once more. "Ah, one thing Mr. Arc." Seeing he had the attention of both teens at the table, the coordinator continued. "In the documentation provided for your living situation, you were shown to be engaged to Ms. Belladonna. Seeing that, I'd thought perhaps this last warning would be unnecessary, but in light of the... _situation_ I would just like to make certain it does not go unsaid."

"Uh... what warning?" Jaune asked, rather confused by the sudden change in topic.

Yang herself was also curious, tail flicking behind her lazily as she listened in.

"Hm... how best to put this." Ozpin mumbled, seemingly searching his mind for a way to explain himself. "Due to the entry of extra-species to our world at large so suddenly three years ago, many humans have taken interest in them. Our government as a whole has taken measures to assist them in integrating with our society, as many of these extra-species have widely varying cultures. One of those measures would be this very program, which assists young extra-species with fitting in alongside humans by placing them in the care of host families."

"Yeah." Yang cut in, toying with her hair. "We got that. There was a warning somewhere in there?"

Unperturbed by the interruption, Ozpin continued. "Apologies, I'll simply cut to the point directly; due to many humans aiming to take advantage of the cultural differences of extra-species for their own benefit, be it to profit off of them or simply to indulge in other ways, laws have been placed as a means to prevent that. Many of these laws are up for revision on a near constant basis, some exist in a state of flux. Extra-species and their inclusion to our society has caused quite the stir, after all." Holding up his hand to prevent another interruption, seeing as how he had not in fact cut to the point, he chuckled. "Again, apologies. I felt this was necessary information to preface what I aim to warn you about. In short, Mr. Arc; please refrain from making any advances upon Ms. Xiao Long... and vice versa, as well." He added, just for equality's sake.

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked, eyes widening. "I wasn't, I wouldn't do that! I mean, wait, no. She's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I'm engaged!" Despite the fact that neither party was really all that pleased with the arrangement, least of all Blake, Jaune was doing his best to try and make things work. They had to work, there just wasn't another choice.

He was trying hard not to force it on Blake any more than it already was, but this was the reality they lived in and as much as it sucked they kind of had to deal with it.

From the side, Yang's own brow raised up; both at the nature of this warning and at Jaune's startled response. "I _am_ beautiful, yeah, that's true. Loverboy here isn't such a bad looking guy either, but he's kind of taken, even if his taste is questionable. The heck kind of warning is that?"

Ozpin chuckled at the reactions this garnered. "This may not concern you particularly, Ms. Xiao Long, due to the strength your species exhibits granting you far more... security, I should say, from unwanted advances. But many extra-species lack that, and so laws have been put in place for their protection from those who may take advantage of the Cultural Exchange Program." A shrug came from the man as he carried on with the explanation, both teens actually interested by this point. "Again, these laws are up for revision almost _constantly_ as the stir from the introduction of extra-species to our culture is still ongoing. The dust has yet to settle, as it were. There _are_ cases of human and extra-species couples, and it wouldn't be right of us to attempt to step into those cases and potentially infringe upon the freedom those individuals have to choose their partners..."

The coordinator paused, before deciding how best to say this. "However, due to the uncertain nature of the laws surrounding extra-species at this time, we of the Cultural Exchange Program _heavily_ advise against relationships between our host families and their homestays. It is equal parts for the protection of the extra-species and of the host family themselves, as legal repercussions can be quite severe in cases where abuse is suspected."

Having calmed down from his earlier embarrassment at the sudden and unexpected warning, Jaune nodded. "Okay. I get it. It's not outright illegal or anything to do it, but if it looks like there's something sketchy it can get really bad? And you just tell everyone about this same thing because of how serious it is?" He asked, having been entirely in the dark about this up to that point and vaguely concerned he was being called a creep.

Ozpin nodded. "Generally speaking, yes. The protection of the extra-species under our care is of utmost importance, and so we must treat each and every potential incident with deadly seriousness, even if it is something we perceive as minor." He nodded towards the girl. "Ms. Xiao Long is of the ryu-jin species, and culturally they are not so dissimilar from humans, so I expect there would not be any serious issue due to missteps made out of lack of cultural awareness. Additionally, her strength is many times greater than that of human beings naturally."

As though to prove the point, Yang smirked and lifted the table with one hand; the entire table was lifted off of the ground with no strain from the girl whatsoever despite having no leverage and using only a single hand. Sufficiently displaying her strength, the girl simply put the table back down, having lifted it in such a way that there was no tilting which disturbed the cups on the table itself.

"As she has just demonstrated for us." The man chuckled. "At any rate, her strength is enough that I've little doubt she could fend off any unwanted advances... however..."

"... Oh..." Yang mumbled, a small smirk on her lips as the realization hit her. "You're saying that if _I_ wanted to have my way with Loverboy here he'd be kind of screwed?"

And again, a snort of amusement came from Jaune before he caught up to himself and realized what was just insinuated. "Wait, _what!?_ " He yelped, eyeing the girl oddly.

She giggled. "Don't worry about it! It's a joke, Loverboy."

"Joking aside, that was part of my point." Ozpin cut in with a chuckle of his own. "Legal repercussions are severe on both ends. It's best that warning be given so that no one makes any decisions they may come to regret. I have no doubt in your moral character, but this issue is, again, to be treated with utmost respect due to the state of things at this time."

"Yeah, we get it." Yang replied, waving one scaled hand idly. "Don't get up to any sexy shenanigans. We done yet? This has been a fun talk but I'm kinda tired." As though to prove this, a large yawn came from her. "I've been up since like four in the morning just running around back and forth for all the prep stuff they wanted done."

"Sorry to keep you." Ozpin replied sincerely, retrieving his copy of the documents and standing from the table. "I'll be off now; thank you once more for the hospitality. Expect that we will meet again within the next few days." With that, the man made his exit.

"Well." Jaune began as he and the girl were left alone, standing from his own seat and stretching. "Let's get you to your new room, I guess."

Another loud yawn made her agreement clear as the girl got up. "Sure thing, Loverboy. I'll probably crash the second I hit the bed."

"Hope you like the room. If you end up needing anything, just let me know... and, ah... try not to mind Blake too much. She's..." Jaune trailed off, not really sure how to explain things.

Yang shrugged, following him along and being mindful of her usually swaying tail as they moved into the hall. "So... can I ask about that, or is it a touchy subject? Cuz' I'll drop it, but I'm curious about just what's going on with the apparently not so happy couple."

The blonde teen sighed deeply. "I'll just give you the short version; Blake and I are engaged because of our parents, and we can't find a way out of it. She doesn't want to be with anyone right now, let alone me, so I try to give her space I guess."

"And what about you?" Yang asked, lavender eyes fixed on his back as he walked.

Jaune paused briefly mid step, before continuing on. "What about me?"

Her eyeroll went unseen, but the ryu-jin carried on her line of questioning. "You're okay with your partner for life being some crabby girl who feels like she's chained to you?"

"No, not really." He replied, walking just past one door before stopping, gesturing to it. "This is gonna be your room." The teen announced, knocking his knuckles against the door, before leaning against the wall and taking a second to think. "I'm not happy about this. It's a really crappy situation. I don't love Blake and she doesn't love me; but I could probably fall for a girl like her given the time. You're seeing her as a standoffish, crabby girl, but she's not really." Jaune stopped, amending his statement. "Well, not all the time anyway; she can be pretty snarky even on her best days, or maybe I'm just special."

Yang frowned. "I don't think I could deal with it either. I'd never let someone else choose the person I'm spending the rest of my life with." Left unsaid was her question of just why _they_ were letting it go. She didn't want to pry, but the question did sort of hang in the air.

That drew a shrug from her host. "I've gone my whole life wanting to live up to my family's expectations. If I don't make this work, then I feel like I let them down. This is the one thing my family has _ever_ asked of me. That's all it is for me... and Blake, I don't know. We don't talk about things much, she prefers to brood on it by herself."

"Sounds like a real catch." The reptilian girl replied, clearly questioning his earlier claim that the girl was more than what she'd seen of her.

"She is. Just... not the one for me, I bet." Jaune chuckled. "Blake's a beautiful, smart woman. She likes to read, there's a sense of humor buried under that deadpan expression too... she's got a lot of good qualities, but..."

"It's kinda worthless if you're just seeing grouchy-face all the time." Yang finished for him, nodding in understanding. "I get it. You're saying she's got more to her, she's just permanently in a state of pissed off because of this whole deal with the marriage. Right?"

A humorless chuckle came from Jaune. "Basically, yeah. If she wanted this to work, I think we could make it... but she doesn't, and that's fair. I can't _blame_ her for it. So we're kind of stuck in this situation."

Not really knowing what else to say, Yang just offered him a pat on the shoulder. "You're a good guy, Loverboy." Considering he'd kind of let her stay in his home even though he apparently had no idea about being in this program to begin with, that was kind of an understatement. If he hadn't taken her in, she would have had to go back home until they could find another place for her. Which could take weeks. "I hope it all works out for you in the end... but for now I need my beauty sleep."

"Good night then, Yang." Jaune replied, giving her a small smile. "If you need anything, just let me know."

As she stepped in, closing the door behind her, Yang Xiao Long looked around the room. It was well furnished, with a big bed. Desk off to the side, bookshelves lining the wall under the window, not filled but not bare either. The girl noticed a closet to the side as she strolled over to the window, opening the beige curtains and looking out over the backyard, which was fairly large and decently private looking due to the high bushes lining the fence.

Her smile widened, tail swishing behind her excitedly.

"Things are going to be _so_ much more interesting here."

Finally off of the little island of Patch where she'd lived her whole life, Yang Xiao Long was excited to see what the rest of the world had in store for her.

* * *

Yang had honestly been a bit concerned about the living situation. Loverboy was a good guy, like she'd said, but the grouchy girl he was living with was kind of a wrench in things. Considering the two of them were actually in an arranged marriage kind of thing, something that she'd only heard stories about considering the usual stance her people took on mating, there was a great deal of tension.

Especially with her inclusion to the household, which in and of itself caused some issues. Crabby girl wasn't too enthused by her being there, that much was clear as day.

But the next morning, as she made her way down stairs after brushing her hair, Yang was forced to revise that opinion.

Despite it being fairly early, Jaune Arc was awake. And he was in the middle of making breakfast.

Yeah, no, this was going to be a great place to live if he did that every day. Screw any of the downsides, this was fine. He really wasn't doing it halfway, either, because she heard the sizzling of bacon, smelled the sweetness of pancakes in the air, and saw him crack an egg into a separate skillet. Off to the side, the toaster seemed to be going as well.

Loverboy seemed to be having a good time of it, too, because he was dancing around a bit as he cooked.

"Oh, hey Yang." Jaune greeted, one earbud in and another hanging loosely, explaining just what he was dancing to. She couldn't but laugh at the apron he was wearing, some cereal mascot proudly emblazoned on it. "Everything should be ready in five minutes or so. You're up early, did you sleep well?" He asked, one hand moving to press the pause on his scroll, stopping the music, even as the other continued to scramble the eggs.

The reptilian girl chuckled, making herself comfortable in one of the chairs. "I went to sleep before you and woke up after you, so it couldn't have been too bad."

Still closely monitoring the food cooking, Jaune replied. "I'm used to being up early. Blake's an early bird too, so she'll be down in..." He checked the clock, a small smile on his lips. "About five minutes, maybe."

Yang couldn't help but notice how that coincided quite well with the time he'd given her for the food to be done, but she said nothing on the matter.

The two of them just chatted a bit for the next few minutes, Yang mainly letting him work on the food but posing questions here and there. It was nice, actually. Comfortable, something she was glad for considering she would be staying there for quite some time. That she and Loverboy could fall into idle banter so easily was a definite plus. Soon enough, he had the table set, plates in the center of the table with the food assorted on them for easy access rather than making up the individual plates.

He did, however, prep two slices of toast with butter and jam before sitting them on what Yang figured to be his fiance's plate.

And almost as soon as that finished, Blake's presence was made known. The dark haired girl came downstairs, fully dressed and ready to go about her day, as opposed to Yang who was clad in her sleep clothes.

Just as soon as she made her presence known, though, the girl merely retrieved the two slices of toast without a word and carried on past them without even glancing their way or acknowledging them at all.

The girl just... tuned them out. Not even the littlest sign that she knew they were there, looking for all the world like the food had just appeared on the plate by magic.

There was a sort of awkward silence for a few moments as Yang attempted to process that. The sound of the door closing was what brought her out of it.

The ryu-jin girl frowned, turning her gaze on the other blond for a moment, gaze incredulous, her eyes making the question perfectly clear without vocalizing it.

Did that _really_ just happen?

Jaune merely sighed, as though used to this.

A large part of Yang was legitimately angry about that. Shitty situation or not, he was trying to be a nice guy and she was just shooting him down? Was that seriously how everything went between these two? That was bullshit! Even if she didn't want to be there, a little bit of civility would be the _least_ she could do.

"... man..." Jaune spoke up, leaning back in his chair and smiling sheepishly. "That's... a lot worse when someone else is here." He laughed a bit, but there wasn't much humor in it. "I'd kind of hoped Blake would at least make a token effort to say hello, or good morning, or something, to you..." Her ignoring him was pretty much what he expected, though.

"... Loverboy, you're way too nice for that girl." Yang announced bluntly, tail flicking about behind her irately. "Does this happen every day?" Seriously, that was infuriating.

A guilty smile. "I like to cook, and I'm up early, so I'd do this anyway." He replied, deflecting the question.

Frowning, Yang dropped the issue without bringing up how he'd taken the time to learn when his forced fiance typically came down to try and synchronize that with when he finished breakfast, or how he'd gone to the point of accommodating her habit of ignoring him. Instead, she switched gears and changed the subject to something much more pleasant. "Bah, who cares. More for us!"

"I can agree with that." Jaune laughed, filling his plate. "I made extra today since we had you as a guest, so eat all you want." There had still been a bit of hope Blake would sit down and eat with them, fleeting as it was.

Digging into her food with gusto, the reptilian girl couldn't help but be even more assured that the decision of sticking her with Loverboy was a good one. He was a nice guy, didn't look too shabby, was good at cooking, _and_ he had an actual sense of humor.

He was like the perfect house wife.

Really, there was not much more Yang Xiao Long could have wanted out of a host family. Yeah, he had some rather peculiar baggage in the form of a fiance who wanted nothing to do with him, but Yang could tolerate _someone else_ being the third wheel in the arrangement she'd just found herself in.

"So!" Jaune spoke up, drawing the girl from her thoughts. "As comfortable as those jammies look, you should probably go get yourself dressed once you finish eating. We're gonna go out."

Yang blinked, glancing down at her orange tank-top and black shorts. "That's really forward of you Loverboy, especially considering the whole "don't stick your dick in it" speech we got the other day."

"That's not what I meant!" Jaune countered, nearly choking on the piece of bacon he was in the middle of sampling. "I meant we're going to go _out_ as in outside. You just came to Vale from Patch, where you lived most of your life. Right?"

"Yeah." The ryu-jin replied, honestly surprised. "How'd you know?" That wasn't something she'd told him.

Jaune smiled widely. "I figured I had no idea what kind of needs you may have because of your species, so I called Ozpin back to see if he could give me something to work with since this whole thing started as a weird mixup. They had a file for you with basic information on your species and, well, you in general."

Another blink. "That's actually really thoughtful." Good grief, this guy was great. Again, she wasn't even something he'd asked for but here he was going out of his way for her sake. "What all did your "Guide to Yang" tell you?"

"Well. You, specifically, lived on Patch with little contact with humans until recently, and this is your first time in Vale. Right?" Seeing her nod, he continued. "And your species is cold blooded, too. Was the temperature okay last night? I didn't change the heat at all since I didn't know what was comfortable for you or not."

"No, no, it was fine. The climate is a bit cool here, but that's something that's always been like that so I'm used to it." For humans, it wasn't even really _cool_ except in the winter months. But Vale had a rather moderate summer by human standards, which meant that nights were sometimes slightly chilly but not intolerable.

Certainly nothing she was going to bother him to change, seeing as how he'd have to turn up the heat and potentially make himself and the grouch less comfortable. "I don't think I'll need the heat up until fall comes around, but thanks for asking. Anything... else it told you?" She asked, prying a bit.

There was one thing she'd rather he _didn't_ know about, and she wondered if the coordinator had the good sense to not include it... it was the one single weakness shared by those of the _noble_ dragon bloodline, something that could completely, utterly _ruin_ them if found out.

"Oh, there was that thing about a backwards scale." He replied, snapping his finger as he remembered. "Yeah, if you touch that scale then it, like, knocks you out or something?"

Yang actually blushed a bit. "Shit..." She grumbled, looking down. "I didn't want that to be out in the open, damn it. If you so much as poke that scale I'm as helpless as a kitten. You could do _whatever_ you wanted to me."

For his part, Jaune looked absolutely scandalized. "I-I wouldn't do that!" He yelped, trying not to sound too defensive. "No, no way. I'd never take advantage of someone like that. I couldn't live with myself if I did." There just wasn't any way that he could bring himself to do that to anyone, let alone someone he was quickly beginning to see as a friend. "If it makes you feel better, the file didn't say anything about where it was."

His reaction drew a rather amused snort from Yang, who finally looked up; her face was filled with nothing but good humor. "Wow, that was almost cool Loverboy." She snickered at his baffled expression. "You're great. Seriously, I mean that; I've known you for less than a day and I already can tell you're a great guy. We're going to get along fine, I was just messing with you; you'd probably freak out if you managed to press my off switch." Seeing his relieved expression, she decided to carry on some. "You know, I'm not gonna tell you where it is... but I won't stop you from looking for it either. Who knows, you might press a few _other_ buttons on the way."

"Now who's forgetting the lecture we got?" Jaune asked, blushing red. "And besides, I'm engaged."

Yang rolled her eyes. "They _advised_ against it. It was never explicitly _forbidden_ , and we're both responsible young adults who can make our own decisions... also, seriously, Grouchy-Cat is not a good excuse." She really did resemble a cat with that bow of hers. "You can't seriously tell me that you want to stay "faithful" to someone who doesn't even give you the time of day." Her reply started off as a joke, but upon thinking and becoming somewhat aggravated by the dark haired girl again Yang did inject a bit of seriousness into the statement.

Another one of those guilty smiles. "I'm her fiance, Yang. Nothing is going to change that, so I've accepted it. I'll do my best to make this work, because that's all I can do."

The blonde girl sighed heavily. "... Loverboy, I know I don't really have the right to criticize you or anything, so don't take this the wrong way... but that is just really, really _sad_. I don't mean to harp on this, but that's just not right." It was a difference in values. To her, to give up her freedom of choice like that was unthinkable.

He laughed. "I get where you're coming from, Yang." He assured her, a sort of resigned look to him. "Seriously, I do. I'm not mad. I can talk frankly about this whole thing, I'm... not really over it, I guess, but I already slammed my head against the wall enough to get it out of my system." This arrangement wasn't exactly new. It'd been around nine months since they'd begun living together, and a year since they'd met and been informed of their situation.

Jaune had finished raging over this. He was done bashing his head against the immovable wall that was their situation; better to just stare at it and admire the stonework than to give himself a headache trying to punch a hole in it. He'd never stopped knowing about the bad things in this situation, he never would either, but he'd decided to try and focus on the good.

There... wasn't much _good_ , honestly. Outside of the material possessions, such as the house and appliances furnishing it, they didn't _get_ anything out of this deal except one another. The best part of this whole thing was that Blake's passive aggressive behavior was better than outright anger.

He shrugged. "I'm not gonna get mad at you for being weirded out by this, or thinking it's wrong. I can't be mad because I think the same thing, I just have to deal with it." Jaune shook his head, seemingly thinking on the absurdity of the situation. "You're getting this whole messed up situation shoved in your face like reality T.V., how could you _not_ have stuff to say about it? Heck, I'm actually touched that you care enough to be mad for my sake... but as much as I appreciate the thought, it's best to just try and put it out of your mind." Having finished his meal, and seeing Yang had mostly cleared out hers as well, he stood and clapped his hands. "And in the spirit of that, go get out of those PJ's so we can go tour the city."

It was best not to dwell on the sad or frustrating parts of life, especially when you could just leave it behind for something better for a little while.

"Kinky, Loverboy. Trying to get me out of these clothes and onto the streets?"

"I'd kind of hoped you would put something else on between there."

* * *

Vale was big.

Yang had always known it was, objectively speaking. There was no way the city that dwarfed her little island home on the map could possible be small, after all.

She _knew_ Vale would be big, but really _seeing_ it was a whole other thing for the girl who'd lived her entire life to this point on a cozy little island off the coast.

Confident as the blonde was, she hardly felt out of place here. Nor was she gawking at everything around. It wasn't what she was used to, but it wasn't bad at all.

"You can let go of my jacket you know." Jaune chimed in from her side, giving her a weird look. "You're not gonna get lost standing five feet from me, Yang."

One hand firmly bundled in her host's Pumpkin Pete hoodie, Yang continued her inspection of the city as they walked, ignoring his request entirely. "What do people even _do_ in all these buildings, yeesh..." She mumbled curiously. Some were clearly shops, some were residences, and some she could sort of figure out the use for... but others were just gigantic freaking buildings with no discernible use.

Her stance was confident, to a degree, but the fact that she was grasping his hoodie like it was her lifeline kind of ruined it to Jaune

Well, that and the fact that she had curled her tail around him.

She'd _said_ it was so she didn't accidentally slam it into someone... which come to think of it was a fair point, considering he'd seen her lift a wooden table with one hand and no leverage, and if her tail had anywhere near that kind of strength he'd hate to imagine what it could do to someone passing by.

But, really, it made it seem like she was using him as a security blanket. The two of them were right next to one another, Yang's tail curled once around his waist and resting on his shoulder. Adding in the fact that she was holding onto his jacket for dear life while looking at everything made them look more like lovers than anything.

They were getting some looks from others, many of the residents of Vale still not quite so used to seeing a real live extra-species girl. While their existence had come into the limelight years ago, integration to human society was still in the early stages so they were somewhat scarce. Vale was a big city, though, so there _were_ others roaming around. Case in point being their neighbors, who he was looking forward to introducing Yang to.

Just... well, most of them were more discreet than the honest-to-goodness dragon who was clinging to him. Her outfit screamed tough girl, with the long leather jacket, the black fingerless gloves, and the aviator sunglasses she insisted on wearing, but the image she put off was more like a tough girl thrown out of her element.

 _Far_ out of her element.

With that in mind, Jaune began to casually steer their tour towards the less populace areas of Vale; as one neared the Agricultural District, for instance, more and more parks started to crop up.

It actually wasn't so difficult at all to convince Yang to visit one of the parks, which lead to now, where the two were seated on one of the park benches and Jaune was refraining from laughing at the girl next to him out of politeness.

She was blushing and refusing to look at him. "... I don't want to hear a word about it, Loverboy." Yang grumbled, arms crossed. "We don't talk about it. It doesn't get brought up. Understand?"

Jaune replied without hesitation. "Of course not. I'd hate to bring up just how cute you can be when you're nervous, it'd ruin your image."

Her tail flicked out and lightly whacked him on the shoulder, drawing an uproarious bout of laughter from the human, which in turn made Yang's blush even more prominent.

"... shut up." She grumbled.

"Are you mad at me?" Jaune asked, leaning over towards her some.

"... Little bit." Yang conceded, more embarrassed than angry but unwilling to say that.

"Wait here, then. I'll be right back." And with that, the blond teen hopped up from his seated position and set off at a brisk pace towards his destination.

Yang, for her part, just sighed. "I'm so _lame_..." She lamented, shaking her head and letting her long blonde hair fall over her face in a golden curtain. "I was nervous? It's just a city. So what if it's like a hundred times bigger than anywhere I've ever been? It's not gonna hurt me. So why was I acting like a little kid lost in the woods?"

Because that's what she was, and she knew it. Patch was tiny compared to Vale. She'd explored near every inch of her home island, but this place was all new open territory, and there were just _so many_ people, and buildings, and the cars on the road, and it was so loud, and everything was so active, and it was all just so _new_ to her.

Of course she'd been nervous.

It still seemed really lame, though.

The park had been a serious improvement, and she was grateful to Jaune for subtly dragging her to a place with way less people, even though it was embarrassing that she'd been so bad he could tell.

The trees all around reminded her of the forested parts of her home, and if she didn't look up too far she couldn't _see_ the huge buildings. And even if she could see them, the buildings didn't seem to be quite so oppressive here. It was like the park was it's own little world. It gave her a much needed break from the crazy urban sprawl.

"I'm back!" Jaune announced, settling in next to her again gracelessly. She felt the bench move a bit as he flopped down onto it. "And I come bearing gifts!"

Yang's nose twitched at the smell of something _delicious_ in the vicinity. Perking up, she tossed out the gloomy thoughts in exchange for figuring out just what was making her mouth water.

One hand was offering her some kind of stuffed pastry, while her host was indulging in one of his own. Held in a colorful wrapper, presumably to keep any filling from falling out or making a mess of clothes, the pastry in question was stuffed with what seemed to be some kind of cream and topped with strawberries.

"Is that just a pancake wrapped around whipped cream? Because that's what it looks like." Yang chimed in, accepting the treat gratefully. "And if it is, then someone is a freaking genius for coming up with it." She couldn't help but marvel at the delightful looking snack.

Seeing the girl's scaled hands delicately holding the crepe he'd bought her, Jaune couldn't help but find the situation amusing.

Dragons were the stuff of legends; powerful monsters that laid siege to towns and castles, that were driven off by the heroic knights, and so on. Sometimes they played the role of protectors, of wizened guardians, or of fierce predators.

It was pretty great to see one playing the role of a beautiful girl delighted by a crepe. The way her face lit up as she took a bite of it brought a smile to his lips.

Extra-species would never cease to amaze him. Just the fact that they existed was one thing, but just how _normal_ they could be was more amazing to Jaune. These creatures thought to be nothing more than myth were actually a lot more similar to humans than anyone had really expected.

She was too occupied with her treat to notice, but Jaune realized he'd been staring and quickly returned to his own snack.

He'd briefly considered ice cream, but... well. He didn't know much about how cold blooded species worked, really, but ice cream didn't seem like the best idea.

Considering the gusto Yang was digging into her's with, he figured this was the right decision.

Soon enough, the blonde dragon had finished off her crepe. Crumpling the wrapper in one hand and patting her stomach with the other, she shot him a grin, showing off those sharp teeth of hers yet again. "You're on my good side again, Loverboy."

"I'm just so happy that I was able to please the great Yang Xiao Long." Jaune replied with his own smile, finishing off his own crepe. "Any preference on what we do next? The day is still young."

She stiffened a bit, a small frown finding it's way to her lips. "Er... I, uh, don't really know." Yang didn't exactly have any expectations, really. She'd been kind of blindsided by him wanting to drag her out.

But beneath that, she was still sort of uncomfortable with the city.

Jaune smiled. "Well, that's fine too. If you don't have anywhere you'd like to go, how about we just head back home for now?"

The reptilian girl tried hard not to sound like she was desperate in her agreement, even though that was _exactly_ what she had wanted him to say. "Sure thing, Loverboy; maybe we could watch a movie or something? You all do have that huge T.V., why not get some mileage out of it?" Was he doing this on purpose? Had he managed to pick up on her discomfort?

Or was he actually just eager to get home himself? Gods, this guy was actually really hard to figure out sometimes. Everything he did seemed so natural that she didn't know if he was even putting any thought into it or just going with whatever came to mind first.

"Before we go, though, are you going to say anything to your admirers?" Jaune asked. Seeing her confusion, he chuckled and nodded his head towards the bushes off the path.

Quirking a brow, Yang directed her gaze towards them and found the admirers in question.

One of the three little kids, probably siblings if she had to guess, was openly gawking at her until they saw her look towards them. The moment her gaze was on them, the trio quickly tried to look inconspicuous.

They failed spectacularly, as starting a game of rock-paper-scissors out of nowhere was hardly the most normal thing in the world.

Dressed as they were, in sturdy clothing that had dark, earthy colors, Yang could pretty safely assume the runts were having a play day in the park themselves and had spotted her at some point.

She snorted at them quickly trying to hide their attention, rolling her eyes. "Kids, huh? I guess they'd be kind of curious about the lady with lizard bits."

Jaune shrugged, shaking his head. "Even young boys can be distracted by pretty girls, Yang."

This earned him an incredulous look. "You say a lot of pretty nice things, Loverboy. _Sure_ you're not trying to go against that advice Ozpin gave us?"

"I grew up with seven sisters, so complimenting girls out of the blue has kind of become a habit of mine. Or maybe a defense mechanism, lately."

During the course of their banter, Yang noticed the trio of little boys had gone back to staring at her; she didn't look right at them, just kind of noticing them out of the corner of her eye.

They were just a bunch of runts. Little dark haired kids, all of them similar in the face. Definitely siblings, or at least cousins, she was sure of it. One had a bandaid over the bridge of his nose, the one in the center who'd been gawking most at her.

They noticed her eyes on them and immediately went back into a game of rock-paper-scissors. Jaune tried to hide his laughter, but not well enough because the ryu-jin clearly saw his snickers.

Yang just shook her head, offering the kids a smile and a wave, just to see if they'd actually be encouraged to do more than just spy on her.

Suddenly frantic as they had been acknowledged, the three boys quickly looked to one another and huddled together.

Oh, that was adorable! They were having a secret conference.

Breaking from their huddle after a few moments, the three promptly walked over to them. "Hey, miss!" The bandaided kid yelled, excited, as they came over. Looking closer, she actually saw a few more bandaids all across his body; this kid was either accident prone, or a child after her own heart. "Why've you gots a tail?"

Judging by the appalled looks from his brothers/cousins, the latter was correct. This little ball of bluntness was probably the sort to get those scrapes and bruises as marks of pride.

Yang put on a show of blinking, tilting her head to the side. "What are you talking about? What tail?" She asked.

The boys were now all flabbergasted. "The one right behind you!" The scrawniest one said. He was halfway hidden behind the rough and tumble kid, probably the shy one if she had to guess. Also the youngest, because the other two were indulging him by letting him use them like shields. That was cute, sort of like how she babied her own sister. Scrawny did remind her some of Ruby, actually.

Turning to look over her right shoulder, and pointedly moving her tail to the left and out of her field of view, she replied. "No clue what you're talking about, short stuff."

"What're _you_ talkin' about!?" Bandaid-tyke yelled again, pointing towards the tail behind her. "It's right there!"

Another look over her shoulder, and another movement of her tail. "... Nope. Not a thing." Yang shrugged, keeping up her innocent act. "Ya'll are crazy." She laughed.

Off to the side, Jaune had nearly doubled over from laughing at the children's plight as they tried desperately to convince Yang that yes, she did have a tail, and no, they weren't crazy. The blonde was clearly having a good time, taking every opportunity to misinterpret the kids instructions on finding her tail and then just asking if they needed to go see a doctor since they were seeing things.

The looks on their faces were priceless. Jaune couldn't help but laugh, which seemed to make them more indignant because it was clear that he knew they were being messed with.

Eventually, though, a breaking point was reached. Bandaid could take no more, and proceeded to shout and launch himself at the tail, a face of righteous purpose carved onto him.

He practically body slammed Yang's tail, which had been swishing about behind her, and wrapped his arms and legs around it. "There! I goddit it! Look!" The kid announced his triumph before yelping as the tail began to move, with him still latched on, to bring him in front of Yang.

She squinted at the boy, held upside down and latched onto her appendage like a sloth, and hummed. "Oh, I see it now. Looks like you all were right." She finally said after a bit.

Bandaid, however, was by this point far too amazed by the fact that she was able to lift him without any exertion. "This is so _cool_!" He yelled.

The other brothers appeared to be partially terrified and partially jealous, but Yang quickly cured them of that... by snaking her tail over to them and practically snatching the other two up. Startled by that, they also latched on in varying ways.

Which led to now, where Yang had a trio of children suspended off her long, reptilian tail, while she herself was looking at the appendage and it's new passengers. "So where are your parents anyhow, runts? Shouldn't you be with them or something?"

The quietest of the three, who was less banged up than Bandaid but more sturdy looking than Scrawny, spoke. "I told'm Mama wasn't gonna be happy 'bout it." He griped, laying on his stomach over her tail. "They wasn't listenin' to me, though."

Bandaid spoke up. "This is way cooler, though!"

"An' how was we s'posed to get back to Mama, huh?" Quiet asked.

"I'd figure it out!" Retorted Bandaid.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Scrawny chimed in, seated on the tail and holding steady with his hands. "Mama said not to fight."

Yang was, by this point, pretty amused by the fact that these three runts had outright tuned her out in favor of arguing between themselves. It made for a rather odd sight, the three boys bickering among themselves while suspended a few feet off the ground by her tail, Yang herself having crouched down to look up at them held overhead.

Jaune, for his part, had pulled himself together and decided to weigh in. "Okay, okay, look." He spoke, drawing the attention of the children. Seeing as how he was the "adult" figure out of them, their attention came to him easily enough. "Where was your mother when you all ran off to play?"

"Over there." Quiet pointed down the path. "Mama told us not to go far, so we didn't... startin' with, I mean. Rocky went too far an' I had ta' catch him."

Rocky appeared to be the bandaid-kid, because that one got particularly indignant. "Nuh uh. Kasper took off, I was just followin' him."

"That's cuz' you was chasin' me!" Scrawny, the newly named Kasper, replied.

"I wasn't gonna do nuthin' to ya', knucklehead!"

"Yer the knucklehead, knucklehead!"

And with that the shouting match commenced again, with none of the kids commenting at all on their suspension midair. Yang, for her part, was equal parts amused and impressed by their complete _lack_ of reaction to this beyond the initial surprise. She'd kind of expected more.

Jaune, for his part, was exasperated. "... Well. Should we go find their mother?" He asked, glancing towards the girl holding them up.

"I guess." Yang replied, standing up. Checking to make sure the little rascals were firmly attached, she spoke. "Okay, hold on tight kiddos. We're going for a walk."

"Kay!" Chimed three different voices, and she felt the grips on her tail tighten some so that the kids wouldn't fall.

And with that, they were off.

* * *

After locating the mother of three particularly rambunctious children and delivering said bundles of joy to her, Yang and Jaune had made their way back to his humble abode.

Yang, for her part, had a soft little smile on her lips as she sunk into one of the plush chairs, curling her tail over the arm of it to keep the appendage out of her way. "I gotta admit, I'm... really surprised that their mother was so chill about that."

Considering she had literally walked up to the woman and presented the children to her while they were riding her tail, Yang had been expecting some kind of freak out. Maybe not just about the fact that there was some crazy lizard with her kids, but about the handling of those kids.

But no. The lady was actually completely calm about it. And come to find out the oldest of the trio, the quiet one who she found was named Coal, actually hadn't been allowing his brothers to rush off without any way to get back to their parent.

The little runt had a phone the whole time, he just didn't tell his brothers about it so they wouldn't harass him to use it for random crap. That kid was devious, she liked it.

"Vale's a big city, Yang." Jaune replied with a smile of his own, glad to see she'd had a good time. "A lot of the people here are already used to extra-species. There are a bunch of people who think you guys are the coolest thing in the world."

"For good reason, of course." Retorted the blonde dragon, ego sufficiently inflated by this. "We're great. Me especially."

"And so modest, too." Jaune laughed.

"Just another of the many great things about me." Yang agreed, a wide smile on her lips. "Of course, you're not half bad yourself."

"Oh yeah, just keep the compliments coming." Replied Jaune, chuckling at the banter. His eyes darted to the clock, and a thoughtful expression came to his face.

Curiosity peaked, Yang was about to ask what he was up to, but she was cut off by the other blonde standing up. "I'm gonna go grab a shower." The teen announced, stretching his arms above his head. "I'll be a few minutes on that, then I'm gonna start on dinner. Any preferences?"

Yang blinked at the suddenness, but said nothing about it. "Anything is cool with me, Loverboy." A sly grin came to her lips. "As long as I can get some meat inside me."

Jaune just nodded. "Alrighty, then. Once I finish freshening up I'll start my newest offering to the mighty dragoness."

The girl in question just quirked a brow. Did he actually not catch that one? Huh.

As the other blonde walked away, he suddenly paused mid step and practically choked on air.

Yang snorted loudly. "You just got it?"

"... Yeah. I just got it." Jaune confirmed with a sigh. "In hindsight I don't know how I didn't catch that one immediately."

"Ask nicely and I might let you catch my hind in your sight." She chuckled, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Jaune merely walked off without another word, to Yang's amusement. She took the silence as a sign of her victory.

Leaning further back into the plush couch, the ryu-jin girl sighed contentedly. This was nice. She had wanted to get off of Patch for so long and finally her shot had come once she managed to get entry into the interspecies exchange program.

She loved her home, of course. Her friends and family, the log cabin she'd been raised in, the woods she'd explored to her heart's content. All of it was precious to her and she wouldn't change a minute of the time she spent on the lovely little island of Patch.

But Yang Xiao Long wanted more out of life than what her home could offer, and so she took the opportunity to see more of the world. Vale was the neighboring kingdom and it was home to a friend of her dad, a friend who just so happened to be a coordinator for the cultural exchange program.

So while she did still have to apply and await processing like anyone else, she was guaranteed a spot at some point. It had just been a matter of waiting for the right time.

Of course she had to question whether or not the right time was actually just whatever was convenient for Ozpin, or least convenient for the person she was dumped upon. Had it been anyone other than Loverboy she may have had to suffer the trip back to Patch until an _actual_ host had been found.

But he'd been cool. Very cool in fact. Jaune Arc had taken her in without much complaint, and he was going above and beyond to be a good host.

And all of this _wasn't_ because he wanted a hot piece of tail, seeing as how he was adamant about remaining faithful to that bitchy fiance of his. Ignoring the reason _why_ he wasn't trying to get into her pants, the fact that he was doing all this for her without an apparent ulterior motive was pretty amazing on it's own.

Loverboy was interesting. Yang liked that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. Ears perking up, the dragon girl leaned over the arm of the couch to see who had arrived; she had a good idea, of course, but it didn't hurt to be sure.

Lo and behold, though, the Grumpy-Cat had returned just minutes after Jaune had went for his shower.

Blake paused, glancing around the room with narrowed golden eyes, before locking on to her. The girl stepped forward, slipping her jacket off and throwing it onto a coat rack before making her way into the living room.

And for a moment, she just stared.

Yang quickly became sick of this, though, and the moment was shattered by her voice. "Something you need?" She asked, trying to remain cordial seeing as how this _was_ the dark haired girl's house. Bitch or no, Yang wasn't going to antagonize her for no reason.

The quiet girl merely frowned thoughtfully. "I'm still not used to having another person around." Blake replied simply, glancing around once more. "And I'm surprised that he didn't try and drag me into some conversation or another again tonight. It's unusual."

It was that statement which made Yang realize that Jaune's hasty announcement of needing a shower wasn't just him being random. That cheeky bastard had ditched her with his fiance for whatever reason.

Yang grit her teeth a bit. "You could at least try to be a bit nicer to the guy, you know." She muttered.

That drew a smirk from the other girl. "Oh? You like him?" She asked, one brow quirked. "I guess he made a good impression on you. _My_ first impression of him was pretty terrible." Considering she'd met him and then immediately been told he was going to marry her, they got off to a rather poor start and had never recovered.

Not for lack of trying on his part, though.

A growl came from the blonde on the couch as she regarded the dark haired teen. "Yeah, actually, I do. He's a sweet guy who helped me out when he didn't have to, and seeing you treat him like he doesn't exist pisses me off."

Cordiality was one thing, but Yang was a blunt person. She wouldn't be hiding her opinion on this. Not when she was going to have to deal with it for the foreseeable future on a daily basis.

Unexpectedly, Blake's smile widened a bit. "Oh? Sounds like he wants something from you too." She laughed a bit. "Maybe we do have some common ground."

 _That_ pissed Yang off immensely. This girl was his fiance and he was loyal to her. And she didn't even give him the time of day. She actively acted like he didn't freaking exist. Where the hell did this bitch get off even _implying_ that Jaune was trying to seduce her?

"I don't want to hear that shit from you!" The blonde shouted, leaning forward in her seat and making a concentrated effort not to break anything in her anger. "Loverboy wouldn't even _try_ to get with anyone, let alone me, and it's because he's _loyal_ to _you_. For whatever reason."

Blake laughed again. "Oh, I know what his reason is. Because he won't back out; he can't afford to, and neither can I. It's not about me, it's about him. That's the same as my reasons for going along with this farce."

That made Yang stumble a bit, because in a sense it was probably true. Jaune had said that he wouldn't back out because of his family, not because he actually had feelings for his fiance.

During her brief stumble, the other girl took initiative in the conversation. "You can have him if you want him." Blake continued dismissively, glancing the other girl over. "Considering his interests you actually have a good chance." Turning on her heel, the black haired girl began to walk away. "It'd be really helpful if you could shake some of that faithfulness he has. Make him care more about you than disappointing his family and we can all live our happily ever afters."

Shocked silent by that rather blatant declaration, Yang could do little more than watch the other girl go. Once she was out of sight, having gone upstairs, the reptilian girl released the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

That was... ridiculous. The fiance of the guy who had been showing her such a wonderful time had just outright _asked_ her to get him to cheat.

"... make him care... about me." She mumbled, replaying that over in her head.

It wasn't right. Not in the sense that she was breaking up their marriage, she didn't give a shit about that since neither of them wanted it to begin with, but that the girl Jaune had been so faithful and _good_ to had just asked her to steal him away. And then there was the whole thing about his family, it wasn't right for her to step in and get in the way of this when he was so adamant about doing this on their behalf.

"... but it isn't right for them to force _this_ on him either." She found herself whispering, as the other girl's words rattled around her head.

Jaune Arc was not love at first sight for her. He was a nice guy, he was handsome, and he had helped her out immensely. That didn't mean she was going to fall in love with him, and his marriage made that an awful idea anyway.

But, to quote what he'd said to her the night before, she could fall for a guy like Jaune Arc given the time. And seeing as how she would be spending most of her days with him for the foreseeable future, that possibility did exist. If she wasn't actively telling herself not to she may find him worming his way into her heart over time.

And now with Blake's request, Yang wasn't so sure she could keep the thought out of her head. Jaune deserved better than a girl who didn't care about him at all, whether or not that was girl was her. He was too nice of a person for him to be stuck with a loveless marriage. It wasn't right, and that bothered her no matter how much he told her to put it out of her mind.

Yang was of the mind that "nice guys finish last" should apply only to the bedroom. Good people didn't deserve to have bad things happen to them, and she hated to see it happen.

"Oh man, that feels great." Jaune's voice drew Yang from her reverie, the blonde girl turning to regard the teen as he strolled out in a pair of pajama pants and a tank top, hair still damp and a few droplets of water clinging to the visible skin of his face and arms. "Nothing like a nice shower after a long day, am I right?"

"Haha, yeah." Yang replied, a little stiffly. "I can agree on a hot shower, but it's kind of a pain when I get out and it's cold."

That drew a frown from Jaune. "... Sorry about that." He said after a few seconds. "I was kind of hoping you and Blake would get a chance to talk. I shouldn't have done that without warning you."

"No, no, it's fine." Yang replied perhaps a bit too quickly. "I get why you did it. She... well, we _talked_ , but it didn't really get anywhere."

He sighed. "It's better than I get, still. I hate to ask you this, but could you try to talk with her some?" The teen held his hands up defensively, realizing how that sounded. "Just in general, I mean! I don't want to involve you in this whole big mess we're in, but Blake doesn't really have anyone to talk to since she avoids me most of the time. She could probably use a friend."

Yang just stared at him, shaking her head. All the crap she put him through and he was _still_ looking out for that girl? That went beyond just doing this for his family's sake. It wasn't love, she could tell that much, but it was probably more along the lines of sympathy. Either way, he cared about her wellbeing and she didn't give a damn about him.

She sighed. "Yeah. I can try, Loverboy."

The smile he gave her brought a bit of warmth to her cheeks. "Thank you, Yang."

"No problem... now get working on dinner, your mighty dragoness hungers." She joked, jerking her head towards the kitchen.

Jaune gave her a mocking bow before darting into the kitchen to work on dinner, and looking at his retreating back Yang only had one thought.

'Happily ever after, huh?'

* * *

AN: And so that's done and over with. Blake's a human? What? Why not a cat girl?

Suffice to say it was collectively decided that was "too easy", and so most if not all of the Faunus cast are actually human rather than any kind of extra species. The whole arranged marriage bit is also there to find a way to have them shoved together so we could get RWBY all under one roof, and it'll be a plot point that is explored down the line; it serves as an immediate answer to why the girls don't immediately fall into any kind of romance, for one, because in this I've toned the whole "don't stick your dick in it" thing down immensely seeing as how in Monster Musume that rule is literally only ever mentioned or "enforced" upon the MC and his homestays.

Anyhow. This is what I've thrown together and it's fairly amusing to me. Will probably continue this more at some point, but it's not a super large priority.


End file.
